China's sprawling night-market barbecue culture where nearly anything — lamb, chicken wings, beef tendon, tofu skin, eggplant, whole leeks — is skewered and grilled over long narrow charcoal troughs. The unifying signature is the dry spice dusting of cumin, chili flakes and sesame, with fierce regional scenes from Northeast China to Yunnan.
Also known as: shaokao, shao kao, 烧烤, Chinese street BBQ, Chinese barbecue skewers, chuanr night market
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g lamb shoulder with its fat, in small thin 1.5 cm pieces
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp coarse chili flakes
- 1 tbsp white sesame seeds
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp MSG (optional but true to the street)
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
How to make it
- 1
Mix the cumin, chili flakes, sesame, salt and MSG into a dry shower and set it beside the grill.
- 2
Thread the lamb thinly along flat skewers — two small pieces per bite, a sliver of fat riding every lean piece.
- 3
Grill over narrow, fierce coals, flipping every 20-30 seconds like a night-market vendor and brushing with oil as you go.
- 4
When the fat starts to sizzle and drip, around minute four, dust both sides heavily with the spice mix and keep flipping 2 minutes more.
- 5
Re-dust lightly and hand them over in a fistful, sticks up.
Pro tip: Spice mid-cook, never in a marinade: cumin toasting in dripping lamb fat is the entire smell of a Chinese night market.
